


a wolf is wild, but a dog is more dangerous

by Pomfry



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, Metaphors, a fuck ton of metaphors, this is weird okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-30 22:25:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19412644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pomfry/pseuds/Pomfry
Summary: Where Sakumo is a wolf, Kakashi is a dog. Where Sakumo is wild, Kakashi is not. Where Sakumo fails, Kakashidoes not.





	a wolf is wild, but a dog is more dangerous

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Anon_Slayer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anon_Slayer/gifts).



> for the thirty minutes to gift on sloaners discord hehehe....

Sakumo’s summons were wolves. That’s where he got his title, you see. His lead summon gave him one of his teeth to fashion into a sword, and Sakumo created his legacy. The White Fang became feared throughout the villages and as his infamy grew, so did his son.

Kakashi was not like Sakumo. Where Sakumo was wild and free, Kakashi was calm. Oh sure, not everyone saw it, but their summons saw it. Thus Sakumo’s summons wouldn’t let Kakashi sign the contract. The Wolf Contract is only for those who are unrestrained in heart and who are willing to kill to do what they need to do. Kakashi is kind and soft where Sakumo is not, and so when Sakumo came to them with his son cradled in his arms, his summons refused.

“He is not ferocious enough,” they told their beloved summoner, shaking their heads. “He is not like you. He is bound by fate to this village.”

“As am I,” Sakumo argued, and one large eye looked at him in disdain.

“You are not,” the wolf dismissed. “You are bound by fate to your word, to your honor, of which your son will have none.”

Kakashi didn’t so much as stir when the summon refused his blood, when Sakumo said that his son will have honor. He had vowed this to his summon who could see the lines of fate as though paths laid out before them, and they simply shook their head before pushing forward the contract for the Dog Contract.

“They are better for him.”

Sakumo never summoned his wolves again. He rejected them in their entirety for what they said about his son, and as soon as Kakashi could sign his name (two and a half, far too early, but he is a genius and the whole village has been whispering of it, of the little boy with silver hair and too-bright eyes, but Sakumo knows he is his son and that is all that matters) the Dog Contract was signed.

The first one summoned is a little pug named Pakkun. Kakashi gives the puppy a smile and cradles him close to his chest. And, for once since Kakashi was six months old, Sakumo could see his summon’s point. Kakashi was not wild. He was reliable and will grow up to become a dangerous person but he likes orders and doesn’t like being like Sakumo, who will sooner bare his teeth in a threat than a grin.

He is not wild. He is—domesticated, and Sakumo wonders what that means for him. Konoha loves domesticated animals, easy weapons they can wield. Kakashi is smart, too smart, and he will soon be put to work like he is a wolf and not a dog. It will break him, but the village will not care. Kakashi will turn into whatever they need of him. He is not like Sakumo, and that is not a good thing, not in this world.

But their cores are different. Sakumo loves freedom, loves the feeling of being able to choose for himself what he wants. Kakashi takes comfort in the orders, the information. He would sooner roll over onto his back for belly rubs than bite the hand that offers them. Sakumo loves his son, but he will never understand him, not in the way that matters.

Kakashi is a _dog_ and Sakumo can’t understand why. The call for violence and the wild runs strong in their veins, and his clan as long since been headstrong and only choosing the missions they want. Kakashi will do whatever is asked of him, Sakumo knows, and he doesn’t _understand._

The world is speeding up. War is on the horizon, and the blood that keeps Sakumo alive _burns_ with anticipation. War is good, is good for the village. Profits, reputation. Konoha has never once lost a war. The effects are devastating, but Sakumo likes battle. It makes his eyesight sharper, makes him excited. Kakashi fears war. He plays at being a shinobi, unaware of the true horrors, and Sakumo wants to keep it that way.

War will break his son where it strengthened Sakumo. No, Kakashi will be kept as far away from the front lines as possible.

Then a mission fails. Sakumo saves his comrades instead of the mission, and the sealing tag that had been placed on the villages since the last war ignites. It explodes and on Sakumo, and even a wolf as wild and untameable as him feels the burns. He feels as though he is slower than before, as though moving hurts. His son is worried, the silly little puppy he is, but he also blames Sakumo for bringing war to their doorstep. War is not happy and nor is it easy. It is hard and harsh and everything a dog should not have to deal with.

Sakumo’s fate is his own, just as his summon told him. He broke his promise to keep Kakashi away from the battlefield and he broke his honor as a Konoha shinobi. So he takes a sword and—

He doesn’t think of the impact it will have on Kakashi.

A little puppy, not a wolf cub, has no place on the front lines. His teacher tries his best, but Kakashi has locked himself away. There is no wolf in him, only a lonely vicious dog, and perhaps his father forgot that dogs can be just as dangerous as wolves if given the right motivation. If hurt enough.

Kakashi is no wolf, not like how his father was, not like how his clan was, but he is a dog. A feral dog, one where bites at the hand offers kindness. He is a weapon and there is nothing that can change that.

Wolves are wild and insane but dogs are trusted. They are household pets, trained to act a certain way. Kakashi is prodded and poked and scolded and punished into conforming into the way they want him to. He starts lunging teeth first, not a single glimmer of regret in his eyes.

His eyes. His village always said they were weird. Too bright, too lazy, too _smart._

Here’s the thing. Dogs are smart. They are adaptable. If put into danger, they will do one of two things. They will run away and bark threateningly, or they fight. Dogs learn and they don’t make the same mistake twice if shocked hard enough.

The shame the village shows him is more than enough electricity for Kakashi.

He gets shoved into ANBU and doesn’t show mercy. Why would he, when his trainers spared him no such thing? There is disgust in the way he kills, in the missions he does at times, but he doesn’t allow a single person to die under his command. A lone dog, he is not a wolf, but he sometimes thinks he might as well be.

Three puppies are given to him. One with pink hair, another with blond, and one with black. They look at him for instruction and Kakashi doesn’t know what to do. The only methods he knows are cruel or too soft. But he tries, because he is ordered to, because they are _his_ in a way that no one has been in years, and he doesn’t want to lose them.

He does, anyway

A wolf would have done better, a voice in his head says. Kakashi grits his teeth and goes forward. Maybe a wolf would have, but the world will have to deal with a dog instead.

(And if, years later, he looks at the stars with Gai at his side, his students all strong enough to stand on their own without his help, he thinks, _this is okay. This is fine. I am happy here._

And that is that.)


End file.
